Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-127) / This dissertation examines how three dystopian texts, namely Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, exhibit social conformity as a disciplinary mechanism of the ‘carceral’ – a notion introduced by poststructuralist thinker Michel Foucault. Employing poststructuralist discourse and deconstructive theory as a theoretical framework, the study investigates how each novel establishes its world as a successful carceral city that incorporates most, if not all, the elements of the incarceration system that Foucault highlights in Discipline and Punish. It establishes that the societies of the texts present potentially nightmarish future societies in which social and political “improvements” result in a seemingly better world, yet some essential part of human existence has been sacrificed. This study of these fictional worlds reflects on the carceral nature of modern society and highlights the problematic nature of the social and political practices to which individuals are expected to conform. Finally, in line with Foucault, it postulates that individuals need not be enclosed behind prison walls to be imprisoned; the very nature of our social systems imposes the restrictive power that incarcerates societies / English Studies / M.A. (English Studies)

This project is an exploration of 20th century dystopian literature through the lens of germ theory. This scientific principle, which emerged in the late 19th century, asserts that microorganisms pervade the world; these invisible and omnipresent germs cause specific diseases which are often life threatening. Additionally, germ theory states that vaccines and antiseptics can prevent some of these afflictions and that antibiotics can treat others. This concept of a pervasive, invisible, infection-causing other is not just a biological principle, though; in this paper, I argue that one can interpret it as an ideological framework for understanding human existence as a whole. Particularly, I believe that authors of prominent 20th century dystopian novels applied the tenets of germ theory in order to explore the potential “pathogens” that furtively exist within the human mind. These pseudo-germs are various human tendencies that, when left “untreated” by governments, create nonnormative members of society. In the eyes of dystopian regimes, it is precisely this nonnormativity that poses a lethal threat, in that it challenges the continued existence of society with the current ruling body at the helm. In this paper, I trace love (both sexual and familial) and individuation (as a function of social hierarchy, recreational activities, and the use of language) as social disease-causing pathogens in George Orwell’s 1984 and in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es eine Beziehung zwischen den biophysikalischen Eigenschaften der Nervenmembran, und den ausgeführten Berechnungen und Filtereigenschaften eines tonisch feuernden Neurons, unter Einbeziehen intrinsischer Fluktuationen, herzustellen. Zu diesem Zweck werden zu erst die mikroskopischen Fluktuationen, die durch das stochastische Öffnen und Schließen der Ionenkanäle verursacht werden, zu makroskopischer Varibilität in den Zeitpunkten des Auftretens der Aktionspotentiale übersetzt, denn es sind diese Spikezeiten die in vielen sensorischen Systemen informationstragenden sind. Die Methode erlaubt es das stochastischer Verhalten komplizierter Ionenkanalstrukturen mit einer großen Zahl an Untereinheiten, in Spikezeitenvariabilität zu übersetzen. Als weiteres werden die Filtereigenschaften der Nervenzellen in der überschwelligen Dynamik, also bei Existenz eines stabilen Grenzzyklus, aus ihren Phasenantwortkurven (PAK), einer Eigenschaft des linearisierten adjungierten Flusses auf dem Grenzzyklus, in einem stöhrungstheoretischen Ansatz berechnet. Es ergibt sich, dass Charakteristika des Filter, wie beispielsweise die DC Komponente und die Eigenschaften des Filters um die Fundamentalfrequenz und ihrer Harmonien, von den Fourierkomponenten der PAK abhängen. Unter Verwendung der hergeleiteten Filter und weiterer Annahmen ist es möglich das frequenzabhängige Signal-zu-Rauschen Verhältnis zu berechnen, und damit eine untere Schranke für die Informationstransferrate eines Leitfähigkeitsmodells zu berechnen. Unter Zuhilfenahme der numerischen Kontinuierungsmethode ist es möglich die Veränderungen in der Spikevariabilität und den Filtern für jeden biophysikalischen Parameter des System zu verfolgen. Weiterhin wurde die verwendete Phasenreduktion durch eine Korrektur ergänzt, die die Radialdynamik einbezieht. Es zeigt sich, dass die Krümmung der Isochronen einen Einfluss darauf hat ob das Rauschen einen positiven oder negativen Frequenzschift hervorruft. / The goal of the thesis is to establish quantitative, analytical relations between the biophysical properties of nerve membranes and the performed neuronal computations for neurons in a tonically spiking regime and in the presence of intrinsic noise. For this purpose, two major lines of investigation are followed. Firstly, microscopic noise caused by the stochastic opening and closing of ion channels is mapped to the macroscopic spike jitter that affects neural coding. The method is generic enough to allow one to treat Markov channel models with complicated, high-dimensional state spaces and calculate from them the noise in the coding variable, i.e., the spike time. Secondly, the suprathreshold filtering properties of neurons are derived, based on the phase response curves (PRCs) by perturbing the associated Fokker-Planck equations. It turns out that key characteristics of the filter, such as the DC component of the gain and the behaviour near the fundamental frequency and its harmonics are related to the particular Fourier components of the PRC and hence the bifurcation type of the neuron. With the help of the derived filter and further approximations one is able to calculate the frequency resolved signal-to-noise ration and finally the total information transmission rate of a conductance based model. Using the method of numerical continuation it is possible to calculate the change in spike time noise level as well as the filtering properties for arbitrary changes in biophysical parameter such as varying channel densities or mean input to the cell. We extend the phase reduction to include correction terms from the amplitude dynamics that are related to the curvature of the isochrons and provide a method to identify the required amplitude sensitivities numerically. It can be shown that the curvature of the isochron has a direct consequence for the noise induced frequency shift.

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado examina o tema Utopias/Distopias e o discurso totalitário em duas obras de caráter e gênero distintos: A República, de Platão (Filosofia), e Admirável Mundo Novo, de Aldous Huxley (Literatura). Tendo como objetivo principal a comparação de elementos narrativos, temáticos e ideológicos encontrados nessas duas obras, utiliza como metodologia a análise embasada em referenciais da Literatura Comparada e da Teoria da Literatura (Narratologia e a Tematologia), da Análise do Discurso Francesa, dos estudos da obra de Platão e de estudos sociológicos. Esta análise segue a sequência de apresentação dos pressupostos teóricos, análise das obras de Platão e de Huxley (em seus aspectos internos e externos), para, finalmente, apresentar um quadro comparativo com os discursos totalitários retirados dessas obras - discursos esses que são analisados em pormenores. Por fim, esta Dissertação culmina com a compreensão de que o tema utopia/distopia, e os discursos acerca dele, não se restringe somente à literatura ficcional, mas pode ser encontrado em estudos filosóficos e políticos, e no nosso dia a dia. / This thesis examines the theme of Utopia/Dystopia and the totalitarian discourse in two works of different nature and genre: Plato's Republic (a work of Philosophy) and Brave New World (a work of Literature) by Aldous Huxley. The thesis' main objective is to compare narrative, thematic and ideological elements. In order to perform this analysis, the author will make use of methodologies taken from Comparative Literature, Literary Theory (Narratology and Thematology), the French school of Discourse Analysis, studies on Plato's works and sociological studies. After presenting and explaining those theoretical references, the author shall perform an analysis of Plato's and Huxley's works, considering their internal and external aspects; afterwards, a final analysis shall be performed, comparing the totalitarian discourses contained within those works. After examining minutely those discourses, the thesis concludes by stating that the theme of Utopia/Dystopia is not restricted to fictional literature; it can be found, also, within the frame of philosophical and political studies, and in our day-to-day lives.

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado examina o tema Utopias/Distopias e o discurso totalitário em duas obras de caráter e gênero distintos: A República, de Platão (Filosofia), e Admirável Mundo Novo, de Aldous Huxley (Literatura). Tendo como objetivo principal a comparação de elementos narrativos, temáticos e ideológicos encontrados nessas duas obras, utiliza como metodologia a análise embasada em referenciais da Literatura Comparada e da Teoria da Literatura (Narratologia e a Tematologia), da Análise do Discurso Francesa, dos estudos da obra de Platão e de estudos sociológicos. Esta análise segue a sequência de apresentação dos pressupostos teóricos, análise das obras de Platão e de Huxley (em seus aspectos internos e externos), para, finalmente, apresentar um quadro comparativo com os discursos totalitários retirados dessas obras - discursos esses que são analisados em pormenores. Por fim, esta Dissertação culmina com a compreensão de que o tema utopia/distopia, e os discursos acerca dele, não se restringe somente à literatura ficcional, mas pode ser encontrado em estudos filosóficos e políticos, e no nosso dia a dia. / This thesis examines the theme of Utopia/Dystopia and the totalitarian discourse in two works of different nature and genre: Plato's Republic (a work of Philosophy) and Brave New World (a work of Literature) by Aldous Huxley. The thesis' main objective is to compare narrative, thematic and ideological elements. In order to perform this analysis, the author will make use of methodologies taken from Comparative Literature, Literary Theory (Narratology and Thematology), the French school of Discourse Analysis, studies on Plato's works and sociological studies. After presenting and explaining those theoretical references, the author shall perform an analysis of Plato's and Huxley's works, considering their internal and external aspects; afterwards, a final analysis shall be performed, comparing the totalitarian discourses contained within those works. After examining minutely those discourses, the thesis concludes by stating that the theme of Utopia/Dystopia is not restricted to fictional literature; it can be found, also, within the frame of philosophical and political studies, and in our day-to-day lives.

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado examina o tema Utopias/Distopias e o discurso totalitário em duas obras de caráter e gênero distintos: A República, de Platão (Filosofia), e Admirável Mundo Novo, de Aldous Huxley (Literatura). Tendo como objetivo principal a comparação de elementos narrativos, temáticos e ideológicos encontrados nessas duas obras, utiliza como metodologia a análise embasada em referenciais da Literatura Comparada e da Teoria da Literatura (Narratologia e a Tematologia), da Análise do Discurso Francesa, dos estudos da obra de Platão e de estudos sociológicos. Esta análise segue a sequência de apresentação dos pressupostos teóricos, análise das obras de Platão e de Huxley (em seus aspectos internos e externos), para, finalmente, apresentar um quadro comparativo com os discursos totalitários retirados dessas obras - discursos esses que são analisados em pormenores. Por fim, esta Dissertação culmina com a compreensão de que o tema utopia/distopia, e os discursos acerca dele, não se restringe somente à literatura ficcional, mas pode ser encontrado em estudos filosóficos e políticos, e no nosso dia a dia. / This thesis examines the theme of Utopia/Dystopia and the totalitarian discourse in two works of different nature and genre: Plato's Republic (a work of Philosophy) and Brave New World (a work of Literature) by Aldous Huxley. The thesis' main objective is to compare narrative, thematic and ideological elements. In order to perform this analysis, the author will make use of methodologies taken from Comparative Literature, Literary Theory (Narratology and Thematology), the French school of Discourse Analysis, studies on Plato's works and sociological studies. After presenting and explaining those theoretical references, the author shall perform an analysis of Plato's and Huxley's works, considering their internal and external aspects; afterwards, a final analysis shall be performed, comparing the totalitarian discourses contained within those works. After examining minutely those discourses, the thesis concludes by stating that the theme of Utopia/Dystopia is not restricted to fictional literature; it can be found, also, within the frame of philosophical and political studies, and in our day-to-day lives.

Sound localization is a vital aspect of hearing for safe navigation of everyday environments. It is also an important factor in speech intelligibility. This ability is facilitated by the interaural level difference (ILD) cue, which arises from binaural hearing: a sound will be more intense at the nearer ear than the farther. In a hearing-impaired listener, this binaural cue may not be available for use and localization may be diminished. While conventional, bilateral, wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) hearing aids distort the interaural level difference by independently altering sound intensities in each ear, wirelessly-linked devices have been suggested to benefit this task by matching amplification in order to preserve ILD. However, this technology has been shown to have varying degrees of success in aiding speech intelligibility and sound localization. As hearing impairment has wide-ranging adverse impacts to physical and mental health, social activity, and cognition, the task of localization improvement must be urgently addressed. Toward this end, neural modelling techniques are used to determine neural representations of ILD cues for linked and unlinked bilateral WDRC hearing aids. Findings suggest that wirelessly-linked WDRC is preferable over unlinked hearing aids or unaided, hearing-impaired listening, although parameters for optimal benefit are dependent on sound level, frequency content, and preceding sounds. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

No description available.

From the first electric lights in London along Pall Mall, and in the Holborn Viaduct in 1878 to the nationalisation of National Grid in 1947, the narrative of the simple ascendency of a new technology over its outdated predecessor is essential to the way we have imagined electric light in London at the end of the nineteenth century. However, as this thesis will demonstrate, the interplay between gas and electric light - two co-existing and competing illuminary technologies - created a particular and peculiar landscape of light, a 'lightscape', setting London apart from its contemporaries throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Indeed, this narrative forms the basis of many assertions made in critical discussions of artificial illumination and technology in the late-twentieth century; however, this was not how electric light was understood at the time nor does it capture how electric light both captivated and eluded the imagination of contemporary Londoners. The influence of the electric light in the representations of London is certainly a literary question, as many of those writing during this period of electrification are particularly attentive to the city's rich and diverse lightscape. Though this has yet to be made explicit in existing scholarship, electric lights are the nexus of several important and ongoing discourses in the study of Victorian, Post-Victorian, Modernist, and twentieth-century literature. This thesis will address how the literary influence of the electric light and its relationship with its illuminary predecessors transcends the widespread electrification of London to engage with an imaginary London, providing not only a connection with our past experiences and conceptions of the city, modernity, and technology but also an understanding of what Frank Mort describes as the 'long cultural reach of the nineteenth century into the post-war period'.

The discursive and critical positions of the ‘classic’ nineteenth-century novel, particularly the woman’s novel, in the field of adaptation studies have been dominated by long-standing concerns about textual fidelity and the generic processes of the text-screen transfer. The sociocultural patterns of adaptation criticism have also been largely ensconced in representations of literary women on screen. Taking a decisive twist from tradition, this thesis traces the evolution of representations of masculinity in the malleable characters of Rochester and Heathcliff in film and television adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights between 1939 and 2009. Concepts of masculinity have been a neglected area of enquiry in studies of the ‘classic’ novel on screen. Adaptations of the Brontës’ novels, as well as the adapted novels of other ‘classic’ women authors such as Jane Austen, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell, increasingly foreground male character in traditionally female-oriented narratives or narratives whose primary protagonist is female. This thesis brings together industrial histories, textual frames and sociocultural influences that form the wider contexts of the adaptations to demonstrate how male characterisation and different representations of masculinity are reformulated and foregrounded through three different adaptive histories of the narratives of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Through the contours of the film and television industries, the application of text and context analysis, and wider sociocultural considerations of each period an understanding of how Rochester and Heathcliff have been transmuted and centralised within the adaptive history of the Brontë novel.